


something to hold on to

by whataboutateakettle



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Coda, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whataboutateakettle/pseuds/whataboutateakettle
Summary: "She promised herself she wouldn't be like her mother."// a coda for 3x09





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man I have a lot of emotions about this episode, and some of them turned into this.

She’s at the back of the garage; sitting in the rocking chair Happy and Toby aren’t quite sure what to do with yet. It’s holding together, which makes her doubt that Toby actually built it by himself. She can hear voices, muffled slightly by distance and bites of Chinese food. She’d left her half eaten plate on the table, unable to stomach neither the food nor the conversation, excused herself for a moment to get a glass of water, and somehow she’d ended up back here. She’s not even sure how long she’s been sitting here.

The rocking chair reminds her on when Ralph was born. She could never afford one, but the hospital room she stayed in for a night after giving birth had one, and a nurse had helped her settle into the chair, laid this tiny baby in her arms. It happened many times before Ralph had been born and afterwards too, but in that chair, slowly rocking them both, she promised herself she wouldn’t be like her mother.

“Hey, there you are,” a voice, Tim’s voice, calls her back to the present. She looks up and he’s standing in front of her, a smile on his face that’s trying to be reassuring.

She tries to return the favour.

“Your m- Veronica. She’s uh, she’s about to leave. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to say goodbye,” Tim says, stumbling over the words like he’s not sure how she’ll take them. She thinks it’s probably the most courtesy she’s been shown all day.

“I feel like I’ve been yelling all day and no one has heard a single thing I’ve said,” She says, the words coming about smaller and sadder than she expected them to.

Tim frowns, concern etched across his face and he moves forward, sits downs on the old crate next to her. His hand reaches out and rests on her knee. It feels warm and steady, and she lifts her hand and places it over his. She likes his hands, she thinks, they’re larger than hers, and rougher, and they make her feel safe in a way she didn’t think she wanted until she held them.

“Paige,” he breathes, taking stock of his words, “I don’t know what happened between you guys. I mean, if it’s anything like what she said this afternoon, I’m not surprised you don’t trust her.”

She shakes her head, wonders how to explain a lifetime of disappointment and heartbreak in a single sentence. “It’s not just that I don’t trust her, it’s that she makes me not trust myself. She -” She stops, suddenly feeling the weight of the whole story and really, she just feels exhausted.

“I’ll tell you the whole story, I swear. Just not tonight,” she offers him a smile.

“Hey, hey, don’t feel pressured to say anything! Just know I’m here for you.” Tim turns his hand around, taking hers in his, intertwining their fingers together. “If you need a shoulder or an ear. Or a hand.”

Her smile grows a little, and she nods, squeezes at his hand. “Thank you.”

“I do think you should say goodbye to your mom though,” he adds.

“I-”

“Think about it this way: you survived the day with her, and this is the final part. If you don’t, you might always be wondering what you could have said to her.”

She sighs, looks up at the ceiling, knows he’s at least sort of right. But that doesn’t do anything to loosen the knot in her stomach.

“I’m scared,” she starts, glances briefly at him before looking over in the direction of everyone else. “I’m scared Ralph will want to spend more time with her, that he’ll get attached and then get disappointed all over again. I mean, he already has one family member that disappears on him -”

“Paige. Relax.” Tim interrupts her, his other hands lands gently on her back. “Ralph’s a smart kid. More importantly, he trusts you. If you talk to him, he’ll listen.”

She thinks back to the first time her dad had to tell her that her mother was going away for a while, a memory faded with time and tears and bitterness. She knows that she is not her son, that Ralph is different and special and understands the world in a hundred ways she never will.

She prays Tim is right.

“Oh-kay,” she exhales, nodding to herself, some sort of attempt at self-assurance. She stands up slowly, pulling Tim’s hand, and Tim, with her.

She takes a step forward, but Tim’s hand suddenly pulls her back. “Hey.”

She turns back to him, waits for him to continue. “I’m sorry the dinner didn’t work out, I know you were looking forward to it. Maybe next year?”

He’s looking at her earnestly, with soft eyes and warm smile, and she thinks he probably would’ve eaten the charred, dry turkey if she’d asked him too.

She also thinks a year is a very long time.

She steps back towards him, and presses her lips gently to his cheek, then pulls him forward with her, towards the rest of the team. Happy and Toby are side by side at the dining table, Cabe across from them. Walter, leaning on the edge of his desk, sees them first and for a moment she considers letting go of Tim’s hand. But, Ralph is sitting between Sylvester and her mother on the couch, and she’s cleaning off a bit of Chinese food that fell on his shirt.

It shouldn’t be important, but it is and it pulls at the knot in her stomach, and she holds on even tighter.  


End file.
